Imagining the Forces of Life and the Cosmos in the Kelabit Highlands, Sarawak

Abstract

This chapter suggests that, building on Ingold's work, we can use Kelabit ideas to encourage us to think further about the nature of individuation within a continuous flow of power and life through the cosmos. The Kelabit of Sarawak, probably in common with all other peoples not living within broader political, institutional and religious structures which present them with orthodoxies ready-made, have a strong inclination towards philosophical speculation. There is a good deal of variation in the ways in which individual Kelabit see the workings of the cosmos, but they are agreed in viewing these in a holistic way, and driven by a unitary force which they call lalud. The presence of lalud is expressed through life; indeed, lalud and life cannot be disentangled. Lalud links the material and the unseen elements of the cosmos, which are two sides of the same coin. Living entities cohesions of lalud include humans, animals and plants; but they also include mountains and stones.

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